Physical illness may make men more suicidal

Scientists have found that physical illness and injury raises the risk of suicide in men but not women, along with a plethora of other insights into the complex factors that may increase a person's risk of harming themselves.

By: IANS | | Published: December 12, 2019 11:42 am

Suicide is incredibly challenging to predict, because every suicide death is the result of multiple interacting risk factors in one's life. © Shutterstock

A new study study, led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and published in JAMA Psychiatry, is the first to use data from the population of an entire country (Denmark) and parse it with a Machine Learning (ML) system to identify suicide risk factors. Also Read - World Suicide Prevention Day: Effective tips to get rid of suicidal thoughts

Suicide is incredibly challenging to predict, because every suicide death is the result of multiple interacting risk factors in one’s life,” said lead study author Dr Jaimie Gradus, associate professor of epidemiology at BUSPH. Dr Gradus and her colleagues looked at thousands of factors in the health histories of 14,103 individuals who died from suicide in the country from 1995 through 2015, and the health histories of 265,183 other Danes in the same period, using a machine-learning system to look for patterns. Also Read - World Suicide Prevention Day: What can you do to avoid hurting yourself?

Many of the study’s findings confirmed previously-identified risk factors, such as psychiatric disorders and related prescriptions. The researchers also found new potential risk patterns, including that diagnoses and prescriptions four years before a suicide were more important to prediction than diagnoses and prescriptions six months before, and that physical health diagnoses were particularly important to men’s suicide prediction but not women’s. Also Read - World Suicide Prevention Day: 4 mental health conditions that increase the risk of self-harm

“The findings of this study do not create a model for perfectly predicting suicide”, said Dr Gradus, in part because medical records rarely include the more immediate experiences — such as the loss of a job or relationship — that combine with these longer-term factors to precipitate suicide.

The findings, however, point to new factors to examine in working to prevent this persistent public health issue.

Published : December 12, 2019 11:42 am

Two experimental Alzheimer's drugs may slow the ageing process

Father's X chromosome holds clues to autoimmune disease in women

About The health Site

TheHealthSite.com is India's largest health site with more than 40 lakh unique visitors per month. We focus on fitness, beauty, health, pregnancy and more.

Most popular health and wellness website in India in 2012 at the Website of the year awards.

health@corp.india.com

+91 – 22 – 6697 1234

91 – 22 – 2490 0302.

ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES LTD, 18th floor, A-Wing, Marathon Futurex, N. M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400013.

We respect your privacy

Two experimental Alzheimer's drugs may slow the ageing process

Father's X chromosome holds clues to autoimmune disease in women

About The health Site

Useful Links